Abstract: Recent studies however, indicate that there has been a soaring poverty incidence rate among financial cooperative members owing to various factors. These factors have considerably reduced the level of wealth formation and accumulation ending in elevated poverty levels. Against this backdrop, this study sought to establish how financial literacy influence economic empowerment among members of Mwalimu National Sacco working with the county government of Bungoma. This study adopted a descriptive research design. The study was conducted in Bungoma South sub-County. The study targeted 1500 members comprising of 1348 older members and 135 fairly new members. Three hundred and sixteen members were selected purposively comprising of 270 older members and 46 fairly new members. Using a questionnaire data was collected from the Sacco members working with the County Government of Bungoma. The collected data was then analyzed using both inferential and descriptive statistics. The findings revealed that there is significant relationship between financial literacy and economic empowerment. Financial literacy was found to be a significant predicator of economic empowerment as it significantly (P=0.001) accounted up to 16.5% (R2=0.165) of variance. It was therefore recommended that Saccos need to enhance financial literacy so as to help their members reap maximum benefits from credit advanced to them. SACCO managers should ensure that entrepreneurship training becomes a core part of the financial education sessions so as to increase the knowledge of Sacco members in running their businesses.
Keywords: Financial Literacy, economic empowerment, Bungoma County, SACCO members, Determinants.
Title: DETERMINANTS OF ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT AMONG MWALIMU NATIONAL SACCO MEMBERS IN THE COUNTY GOVERNMENT OF BUNGOMA, KENYA
Author: Innocent Namusonge, Dr. Mbithi Mutua
International Journal of Social Science and Humanities Research
ISSN 2348-3156 (Print), ISSN 2348-3164 (online)
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